Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., never made it into President Donald Trump's Cabinet after being fired as head of the transition, but he vowed to be a "really willing partner" of Trump's potential federal defunding of "sanctuary cities" in his state.
"The fact is that those folks should be enforcing federal law, and the federal government has to give tools to the states to be able to help them have the enforcement of federal law," Christie told Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" on Thursday night. "The Obama administration had no interest in that. I hope the Trump administration will, and if they do, they're going to have a really willing partner in me."
Christie's remarks came just days after the ousted Trump adviser ripped the "terrible" execution of President Trump's executive order on halting refugees and putting a hold on travel from seven countries outlined as dangerous terror threats.
"There was not enough communication even within the administration — it's clear," Christie told host Bill O'Reilly. "The Homeland Security secretary said he never saw the executive order. You had others in the administration who were not as well briefed as they should have been.
"And that's what leads to withholding entry for people who had green cards, who have already gone through some extreme vetting."
It was a case of mishandled executive process, not bad policy, providing unnecessary fodder for Trump's critics, Christie continued.
"When those problems happened right at the beginning, it allowed those who were opponents of the Trump administration to mischaracterize it and attack the entire policy," he said. "That's all I am saying: The president deserved better."
Asked by the host if this was "a rookie mistake," Christie responded, "probably."
"He's made great progress in doing this the right way, but then was allowed to be attacked viciously in the media over this — unfairly — because he was let down by the people who were implementing it," he added. "So, the president deserved to be served better, and that was what I was saying the other night."
Christie, sounding like he might be suggesting he could have done a better job for the president, reiterated he turned down offers to work for the administration because he "didn't get offered something that made me want to resign as governor ... something very, very special."
Pressed on what job he might have accepted, Christie admitted the attorney general position given to Sen. Jeff Sessions "would have been a hard thing to turn down."
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